Many telephones, particularly those used in businesses, provide a large number of features and functions, including the support of multiple telephone lines, speed dial, call history, call hold, call forwarding, directory search, and the like. In many cases, the telephones include a display, such as a small LCD screen, for displaying information about the phone and calls made using the phone. Most phones include a conventional 12-key keypad including buttons for the asterisk (*), the pound (#), and the numbers 0 through 9. Additional buttons may also be provided for selecting lines and for invoking the other features of the telephone, such as hold, speakerphone, and transfer.
Due to the large number of functions available on the phone and the desire to provide flexibility in the user interface for the phone, many phones are provided with soft keys. Each soft key includes a text label shown on the telephone display and a corresponding button associated with the text label. The telephone control system operates to translate a touch on the button into the activity displayed on the text label.
In the hectic day of a typical employee, it is not uncommon for the telephone user to inadvertently press the wrong button when operating the phone. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved telephone user interface that would accommodate erroneous keypresses.